SEMI Europe EU Funding Seminar Recap

SEMI Europe EU Funding Seminar Recap

SEMI organized this seminar to explain how companies can apply for funding from FP7, the EU’s Seventh Framework Programme. The seminar, without a participant fee, was sponsored by STMicroelectronics and hosted by the European Commission, presented the particular relevance of FP7 to the semiconductor industry and a systematic approach to research project development.

Three programs are most relevant to SEMI members: ENIAC (European Technology Platform for Nanoelectronics), CATRENE (Cluster for Application and Technology Research in Europe on NanoElectronics), and FP7. The SEMI seminar focused on FP7.

“A key feature of the 2010 Work Programme is the participation in actions within the European recovery package,” said Carlos Lee, senior manager at SEMI Europe. Indeed, as an answer to the recent worldwide economic crisis, these pluri-annual actions launched by the EU at the end of 2009 correspond to the four priority areas of the Lisbon strategy: people, business, infrastructure/energy, and research. The FP7 calls for 2010 to offer approximately euro40 million in funding relevant to the semiconductor industry

FP7 targets the competitiveness of European industry and generates knowledge to ensure its transformation from a resource-intensive to a knowledge-intensive base— by creating step changes through research and implementing decisive knowledge for new applications at the crossroads between technologies and consumer needs. These activities are concerned with enabling technologies which impact all industrial sectors and many other themes of FP7. “There are more opportunities for our members besides only the ICT programme, that is why Energy and NMP (Nanosciences, Nanotechnologies, Materials and New Production Technologies) are also looked at,” added Carlos Lee.

The seminar was presented by Stephen Webb from RTD Services, an Austrian-based company specialised in development and management of European and national Research and Technological Development projects. Isabel Vergara-Ogando (project officer at the European Commission) made an introduction to FP7. In addition, Michael Heuken (VP of Corporate R&D at Aixtron) and Olaf Fortagne (responsible for Technology Partnership and Cooperations at Vistec Electron Beam) made short testimonials to motivate SMEs to engage with EU funded programmes.

The seminar, originally aimed at SMEs, also attracted large companies with 60 participants in total. SEMI equipment and material suppliers and device manufacturers participated.

Copies of the FP7 Work Programmes 2010 are available on the internet or upon request to Carlos Lee clee@semi.org